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Gargantuan beast, unaligned
Armor Class 20 (natural armor)
Hit Points 333 (18d20 + 144)
Speed 30 ft.
Saving Throws Str +14, Con +14
Senses passive Perception 16
Languages —
Challenge 18 (20,000 XP)
Brave. The kipourotitan has advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Hollow Bones. The kipourotitan cannot sink in water naturally and must make a DC 24 (Athletics) check to attempt to submerge.
Keen Hearing. The kipourotitan has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
Reckless. At the start of its turn, the kipourotitan can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls it makes during that turn, but attack rolls against it have advantage until the start of its next turn.
Relentless (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). If the kipourotitan takes 48 damage or less that would reduce it to 0 hit points, it is reduced to 1 hit point instead.
Sure-Footed. The kipourotitan has advantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws made against effects that would knock it prone.
Thick Skin. If a melee attack deals less than 25 damage to the kipourotitan the damage is reduced to 5.
Trampling Charge. If the kipourotitan moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a kick attack on the same turn, and if the target fails and is knocked prone, the kipourotitan can make one stomp attack against it as a bonus action.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The kipourotitan makes two kick attacks and one stomp attack. It may substitute its kicks for a slam or tail, but cannot use a stomp or slam/tail against the same target.
Kick. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (2d10 + 8) bludgeoning damage and 17 (2d8 + 8) slashing damage. If the target is a Huge or smaller creature, it must succeed a DC 19 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Stomp. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one prone target. Hit: 34 (4d12 + 8) bludgeoning damage plus 17 (2d8 + 8) slashing damage.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 30 (4d10 + 8) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed a DC 19 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 34 (4d12 + 8) bludgeoning damage.
Bellow. The kipourotitan lets out a low frequency, rumbling bellow, barely audible to humanoid ears but felt as vibrations throughout the body. Any creature that isn't a construct or undead within 120 ft. of the kipourotitan must succeed a DC 19 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of it for 1 minute. Creatures with the Keen Hearing trait, other than another kipourotitan, are also deafened on a failure.
BONUS ACTIONS
Aggressive. The kipourotitan moves up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see.
Rampage. When the kipourotitan reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on its turn, the kipourotitan moves up to half its speed and makes a Kick attack.
REACTIONS
Unbridled Fury. In response to being hit by a melee attack, the kipourotitan can make one melee weapon attack with advantage against the attacker.
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Sauropods are well known among those familiar with dinosaurs, easily recognized and awe inspiring. These massive beasts define the lands they dwell, feeding from the tops of trees and their movements alone influencing the growth of plants as they stomp undergrowth and crush the roots of trees. Many perceive these animals as gentle giants and generally they are, only attacking when provoked. However, in the realm of Kaimere a very different convention is held: the titans here are a far cry from the peaceful behemoths of other worlds, and are instead extremely well armed and aggressive. Among the most common of these goliath beasts is the Kipourotitan, a name given by native naturalists which means "gardener titan" in the common tongue for their curation of forests.
Relics of a Dynasty. Kaimere's natural history is defined by its Great Portal, a hive of magic that brings life from this world to optimize its environment. This harvesting is often frequent but there are periods of long lasting stability where the portal is largely inactive known to Kaimeren naturalists as "dynasties." Most famous and longest lasting of these is the Tyrant Dynasty, a period defined by hadrosaur nesting colonies and their ceratopsian guards preyed upon by tyrannosaurs. However, arguably the most important of its clades were the titanosaurs, sauropods that were some of the largest land animals on the planet. In particular, the clade known as the Giant Gardeners, so named for the ways they influence the forests they inhabit: they not only trampled undergrowth as they walked, but regularly knocked down trees to get to leaves even their necks could not reach and keep the forests suitably opened.
This was essential to the maintenance of the climate, and these titans defined the landscape, but like all dynasties it was not to last: about 40 million years from today on Kaimere, a series of events began that would spell the end of the Tyrant Dynasty, known as the Dynastic Extinction. It began with climate change brought about by volcanic activity caused by shifting continents and these changes drove many of the giant gardeners to extinction. This naturally had dramatic impacts on the forests of the Known World, as once open forests were known thick, densely packed jungles, shooting up global temperatures resulting in an arid period. This ironically caused many forests to die off, and as the climate cooled due to the increased albedo, temperate forests began to increase in density which steadily increased the global temperature, and it continued on like this for several million years, resulting in the extinction of countless species of animals.
However, a savior to Kaimere survived the extinction: the Armored Tillers. These were a clade of titanosaurs that were significantly smaller than the giant gardeners- only about 5 tons at most -but they had spade shaped claws for digging and combat, were covered in armored osteoderms and extremely aggressive, very different from their giant, peaceful, bare cousins. These titans survived in large part due to these traits: their smaller size meant they needed less food than the giant gardeners; their osteoderms, in addition to being armor, stored nutrients that helped them endure the shifting climate; and their armor combined with them aggression, made them less than desirable prey. In the absence of their humongous cousins, they stepped up to the mantle the giant gardeners left behind and quickly became massive, their suit of adaptations allowing them to outcompete the few remaining giants left. Just 2 million years after the Dynastic Extinction, the armored tillers helped to stabilize the climate and bring about the bounty of Kaimere once more and they continue to do so to this day.
Stewards of the Forests. As stated above, kipourotitan is the most common titanosaur in the Known World, with a group each found on its three land masses. They are distinguished by differences in geography, their songs, and colors, though while they are widely considered different species, some naturalists argue for subspecies designation due to frequent interbreeding. Regardless, these titans carefully curate the forests of the known world to their liking and fill these open, undergrowth laden forests with booming songs during the breeding season, too low frequency for most humanoids to hear, but easily felt. What little can be heard comes across as vibrations rumbling throughout the body.
The common forest titan is the most widespread of the kipourotitan variations, noted for its orange color and is found on the western continent of Arvel. These titans reach lengths of 75 feet in length and can weigh upwards of 40 tons, which while not outstanding among titanosaurs throughout history is far larger than anything in their environment, making adults completely untouchable.
The species on the northern continent of Ni'Kar is called the Edotan by native peoples and is generally quite similar physically to the common titan save for yellow instead of orange. The biggest difference is their songs, which generally favor dynamics over raw volume and generally default to higher notes in the edotan. Despite these differences, the overall mating process is quite similar, with males battling for dominance.
Smallest of kipourotitan is the Jurazhent, with males only reaching upwards of 20 tons due to the isolation of their homeland of Pakardia, a large island isolated from the mainland continents. However, the jurazhent has the most solid bones of the three titans and this makes them the most powerful for their size, which makes them better able to run down and kill large nest raiders and predators that would hunt their offspring, which has given them a reputation of being the most aggressive and violent. The song of the jurazhent is much more staccato in its composition than the mainland titans, with what little of their song that can be heard described by the Pakardiant as a deep, eerie cackle. The jurazhent is also the least likely to hybridize with the wandering males of common titans, primarily due to the unlikelihood of them ever meeting: the currents of the Known World bring any jurazhent bulls east and they do not voyage much anyway, while the common titans due on occasion, but the southern coasts of Arvel are separated by their habitats due to rugged, cold mountain steppes, and even then are mostly cliffs. When male common titans do find their way to Pakardia, they are often so large compared to jurazhent females that mating is impractical and their songs are so different that they simply aren't interested. Hybrids do on occasion occur but are rare and over all have a very minor if any impact on the overall population.
Pugilists Make Poor Parents.When it does come time to mate, herds gather in annual highland meeting grounds, with the males arriving first to establish dominance over each other. This begins with the resident male letting out a song for any challengers and females to hear, the loudest of their calls and whose volume is directly proportional to the size and health of the individual. Males can use these to judge if they are able to challenge the resident, but most often no males challenge him: despite the violent reputation of titans, most of their contests are mile long infrasonic shouting matches to prove virility to the other. If males do challenge each other, the songs increase in complexity as they approach each other and only a healthy male can perform their full auditory range. This also calls out any bluffs in the environment that may make a caller sound larger than he is. When males do meet and are either of equal health or one believe the other has a weakness he can exploit, they often drop all pretenses and charge, violently beating, biting, and clawing at each other with their thumb claws. Thick, elastic throat helps them bellow through biting and their armor offers more than adequate protection, but despite this combat between male titans almost always ends with one of the challengers dead: while this has lead to a reputation that titans kill each other on sight, the truth as that titans are so massive that not killing each other in such intense bouts is near impossible. This high turnover of dominant males however does help maintain a healthy gene pool.
While male kipourotitan are the prime example of masculinity in many cultures, females have a more complex social dynamic that actually results in more frequent fights even if most of them are nonlethal. Dominance hierarchy is extremely important to female titans in the breeding season, so as a result females are only slightly smaller and less brightly colored and have just as complex songs. The dominant female lays her eggs in the most favorable location as well as laying the most eggs- between 50-70 as opposed to the typical 20-30 -and her offspring have the best chances of survival due to the surrounding nests of subordinate females. The proximity of nests to the dominant female's is directly proportional to that female's standing within the group and completely subordinate females have nests that are highly spread out and haphazard. Nesting in defiance of the hierarchy is so intolerable that females that do so are sometimes killed, their bodies creating a meal for scavengers that feeds them for weeks or months and helps deter nest raiders. The youngest females may decide not to nest with the colony at all, choosing a subordinate mate and nesting in seclusion: this adaptability in nesting strategies ensures the survival of the next generation over all should something happen to the main nesting site.
Once the eggs are laid, the herd disperses to bulk up for the next nesting season, though subordinate females may stick around as their more fringe nests require more active protection. Males may also stay and guard the nests, especially in areas with larger nest raiders: despite the many dangers involved and likelihood of an easy meal in the form of a dead titanosaur from the combative breeding season, many animals would happily make a meal of titanosaur eggs. On of the most notable and wide spread is the dire badger and wild boar and for the edotan in particular there is the guchar: this is a mammal descended from an ancient lineage unlike those of other groups, whose ancestors have raided sauropod nests for millions of years. However, while they may join the herd for safety, yearling titans may hang around the nesting site as they make far superior defense against nest raiders due to their smaller size relative to the slow, ponderous adults.
The eggs incubate for about three months before hatching, usually coinciding with the first rains which maximizes the time that the offspring can feed upon the bountiful forests. These hatchlings are precocial, able to walk and feed from hatching. As additional protection, all species of kipourotitan have an air sac hood with a spot on it that makes the young resemble cobras helping deter some predators. While adults do not feed them, their presence does offer passive proteciton. However despite these defenses, many predators target young titans to the point where most will not see their first year. That said there is a solution: variable social behaviors among offspring. Some, particularly offspring of subordinate females, strike out on their own right away, while those of dominant females tend to stick together as they have the highest chances of survival. This may take the form of small groups led by a yearling or joining the adult herd and following in their shadows to bulk feed on the vegetation revitalized by the rains. This along with their many other behavioral and physical adaptations are the many features of kipourotitan that have meant their success in the known world.
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